From Magnus Eze, Enugu
igbo women in parts of the world are not happy over turn of events in Nigeria. Their grouse is not far-fetched. They decry the continued incarceration of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and an Igbo leader in Ajao Estate, Lagos State, Chief Fredrick Nwajiagu.
Kanu, who is facing terrorism charges has been detained in the Department of State Services (DSS) facility since June 2021, when he was extradited from Kenya by the Federal Government. Courts including the Court of Appeal had discharged him of any offence but his jailers refused to let him go.
Prominent Igbo Chief, Nwajiagu was arrested by the authorities on March 31, 2023 over an alleged threat to invite members of IPOB to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people in the State.
Igbo women frowned at the maltreatment these two men whom they said were still being held because of their origin. To drive home their anger, some of the women even boycotted this year’s August meeting in their various communities saying that the meeting was meaningless with Kanu and Nwajiagu in detention.
Women in the seven Igbo Speaking States, under the auspices of Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in Diaspora and Igbo Women Assembly (IWA), weekend, reiterated their appeal to President Bola Tinubu, to free the detained IPOB leader and Nwajiagu.
The South East Governors’ Forum (SEGF), National Assembly Caucus from the zone, Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), other groups as well as eminent Nigerians, have at different times urged the government to release Kanu.
Fifty members of House of Representatives recently petitioned the President urging him to release the detained agitator.
Igbo women said Kanu’s immediate unconditional release would restore peace and security as well as social and economic activities in the five South East states.
President General/Founder, Umuada Igbo, Lolo Kate Ezeofor, lamented that the continued incarceration of the self-determination agitator had neither brought good to the federal government nor the state governments and people of the region: “Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in Diaspora of seven Igbo Speaking States: Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, and Rivers, Umuada Igbo in other States of Nigeria and in Diaspora with special consultative status with Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations, New York, USA and Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of the entire Igbo women, mothers, sisters and wives, hereby with deep respect pray President Bola Tinubu, to use your good offices to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from DSS custody.
“We strongly believe that his release will bring lasting peace in South East in particular and Nigeria in general.”
IWA also called for the immediate dismantling of all military checkpoints on South East roads and reduction of police checkpoints in the zone. Investigations showed that there are about 100 military checkpoints in the region.
In Enugu, IWA president, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, said it was unacceptable for Kanu, Nwajiagu and other IPOB members to languish in prison because of their utterances while other Nigerians from other ethnic nationalities who uttered and continue to utter worse things moved about freely and were even given accolades and appointments: “The purpose of our gathering here today is to bring to the attention of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the ill-treatment the South Easterners have been receiving from Nigeria.
“We frown at the APC-led government because it has not been fair to the South Easterners. They said our sin is that we did not vote them and I don’t know anywhere in the world where equity sharing is based on how people vote.
“Again, this very government ever since they took over, the treatment they’ve been giving to South East we don’t like it, the way they treat matters concerning us.
“We are aware that during the last election in Lagos after the Presidential election, there were a lot of maltreatment of the Igbo in Lagos, destruction of their property, even killing of some people. That prompted Chief Fredrick Nwajiagu, the Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, out of frustration had this outburst where he said if the Nigerian government cannot protect the Igbo in Lagos, he might be forced to invite IPOB to come and protect them in Lagos. The way he was arrested and incarcerated and they said they are charging him for treason.
“But at the same time, we’ve watched other people from other ethnic nationalities make such comments even worse against the Igbo and nothing has been done to them. People like MC Oluomo, Bayo Onanuga and Asari Dokubo.
“As mothers, it is paining us, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has a wife and children, Chief Fredrick Nwajiagu has a wife and children and we feel their pains and as mothers, we join our voice to plead for their release. We are asking the federal government to release them or we term it that the quest of IPOB is justified. If they continue to treat some with kid gloves and others with iron rod, which means justifying the actions and agitation of IPOB.”